Plastic article and method of manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

A method for forming a plastic article is provided. An uninterrupted film with a hard-coating layer is provided and transported into a mold. A predetermined area of the film attaches to an inner surface of a cavity of a female mold of the mold. The predetermined area of the film is cut from the uninterrupted film during closing the mold.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Relevant subject matter is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patentapplications (Attorney Docket No. US26630, US27164, and US27165), andentitled “PLASTIC ARTICLE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME”,“ATTACHING FILM”, and “ATTACHING FILM”, wherein US26630 (applicationSer. No. 12/732,141) is filed on Mar. 25, 2010, US27164 and US27165 arefiled on the same date with this application.

1. TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a plastic article, and an in-mold-decoration(IMD) method for manufacturing the plastic article.

2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

A common method for IMD is covering an attached film to a molded productto decorate or protect the molded product. The attached film usuallyincludes a carrier layer, a peeling layer, a protecting layer, and anattaching layer attached to the base of the molded product. While thecarrier layer and the peeling layer are released from the moldedproduct, the protecting layer functions as a scratch/abrasion-resistantfor the attaching layer and the base. But the protecting layer alwaysgets damaged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an injection mold used in anembodiment of a method of manufacturing a plastic article.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a variational injection mold used inthe method of manufacturing the plastic article.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 1, but showing the injection mold closed to afirst position.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, but showing the injection mold closed to asecond position.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a first exemplary embodiment of a method formanufacturing the plastic article.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the method formanufacturing the plastic article.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of a plasticarticle.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a plasticarticle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of an injection mold forin-mold-decoration includes a transport 15, a female mold 25, and a malemold 30.

The transport 15 includes two transporting rollers 152 and two guidingrollers 154 positioned at opposite ends of the mold respectively, fortransporting a film 100 into the female and male molds 25 and 30.

The female mold 25 defines a cavity 22 in a first side 27. A pluralityof air venting holes 23 define in the female mold 25 and connect to thecavity 22. Each air venting hole 23 connects to a vacuum pump (notshown) for adsorbing the film 100 that disposes into the female and malemolds 25 and 30 into the cavity 22.

The male mold 30 includes a second side 31 facing the first side 27 ofthe female mold 25, the second side 31 forms a protrusion 32 protrudingtowards the female mold 25 and mating with the cavity 22 of the femalemold 25. An injection port 34 defines in a center of the protrusion 32,for injecting molten resin into the cavity 22. A slot 24 defines in thesecond side 31 of the male mold 30 around the protrusion 32. A cuttingportion 26 forms on a wall bounding the slot 24 between the protrusion32 and the slot 24. Referring to FIG. 2, in another embodiment, thefemale mold 25 defines a slot 24 a around the cavity 22. A cuttingportion 26 a is formed on a wall bounding the slot 24 a and the cavity22.

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, a first exemplary embodiment of a method usingthe above-mentioned injection mold to manufacture a plastic article,includes the following steps.

Step S102, the uninterrupted film 100 with patterns and charactersprinted thereon, is provided, and rolled around the transporting rollers152 of the transport 15.

Step S104, the uninterrupted film 100 is transported between the femaleand male molds 25 and 30 by the transport 15, a predetermined area ofthe film 100 attaches to an inner surface of the cavity 22 of the femalemold 25. In one embodiment, the predetermined area of the film 100attaches to the inner surface of the cavity 22 by vacuumizing the cavity22 through the plurality of air venting holes 23 of the female mold 25.

Step S106, the male and female molds 30 and 25, close to a firstposition, with the parting surface of the male mold 30, the second side31, not contacting the parting surface of the female mold 25, the firstside 27.

Step S108, molten resin is injected into the cavity 22 through theinjection port 34 of the male mold 30 to form a base of the plasticarticle. At first, about 90%-99.5% of the molten resin is injected intothe cavity 22. In this process, the predetermined area of the film 100attaches to the base of the plastic article.

Step S110, the male and female molds 30 and 25 further close to a secondposition, at this time, the remnant of molted resin is injected into thecavity 22. The parting surface of the male mold 30 presses the partingsurface of the female mold 25, thus the cutting portion 26 of the malemold 30 cuts the predetermined size of the film 100 attached to the baseof the plastic article.

Step S112, injection stops.

Step S114, the plastic article cools.

Step S116, the female and male molds 25 and 30 open to retrieve theplastic article whose surface is covered by the film 100. At this time,the transport 15 transports the film 100 to prepare a next moldingcycle.

Referring to FIG. 6, a second embodiment of a method for manufacturing aplastic article includes the following steps.

Step S202, an uninterrupted film 100 with patterns and charactersprinted thereon, is provided, and rolled around the transporting rollers152 of the transport 15.

Step S204, the uninterrupted film 100 is transported between the femaleand male molds 25 and 30 by the transport 15, a predetermined area ofthe film 100 is attached to an inner surface of the cavity 22 of thefemale mold 25, as shown in FIG. 3. In one embodiment, the predeterminedarea of the film 100 attaches to the inner surface of the cavity 22 byvacuumizing the cavity 22 through the plurality of air venting holes 23of the female mold 25.

Step S206, the male and female molds 30 and 25 are closed.

Step S208, molten resin is injected into the cavity 22 from theinjection port 34 of the male mold 30 to form a base of the plasticarticle, as shown in FIG. 4.

Step S210, the predetermined area of the film 100 attached to the baseof the plastic article from the film 100 is cut from the uninterruptedfilm 100 after about 90%-99.5% of the molten resin is injected into thecavity 22.

Step S212, injection stops.

Step S214, the plastic article cools.

Step S216, the female and male molds 25 and 30 open to retrieve theplastic article whose surface is covered by the predetermined area ofthe film 100 from the mold. At the same time, the transport 15transports the film 100 to prepare for the next molding cycle.

Referring to FIG. 7, a first exemplary embodiment of a plastic article10 manufactured by the above-mentioned method includes an attached film100 and a base 200 made by injecting mold. The attached film 100includes an attaching layer 102, a base layer 104, and a hard-coatinglayer 106.

The attaching layer 102 attaches the attached film 10 to the base 200 ofthe plastic article. The attaching layer 102 may be made from at lastone type of a plurality of resin materials including acrylic,nitrification fiber, polyamine formate, chlorination rubber, vinylchloride-co-vinyl-acetic ester copolymer, polyamide, polyester, epoxy,polycarbonate, olefin, or acrylonitrile-butylene-styrene monomer resin,for example. The attaching layer 102 is generally provided via concave,screen, and offset printing, or spraying, dip-coating method, or acoating in reverse order method, for example.

The base layer 104 is attached to the attaching layer 102 opposite tothe base 200 and generally consists of at least one of polycarbonate,polyethylene terephthalate, acrylic, oriented polypropylene, andpolyvinyl chloride, for example. The thickness of the base layer 104 canrange from about 0.01 millimeters to about 0.125 millimeters.

The hard-coating layer 106 is attached to the base layer 104 opposite tothe attaching layer 102. The hard-coating layer 106 functions as ascratch/abrasion-resistant layer for the base layer 104, the attachinglayer 102, and the base 200. The thickness of the hard-coating layer 106can range from about 0.0005 millimeters to about 0.035 millimeters. Thehard-coating layer 106 is made of thermosetting resin, resin curable byionizing radiation selected from the group consisting of ultraviolet rayand election beam.

Ultraviolet curable resin includes ultraviolet curable acrylic urethaneresin, ultraviolet curable polyester acrylate resin, and ultravioletcurable epoxy acrylate resin. Ultraviolet curable resin can be used witha photoinitiator. For example, ultraviolet curable acrylic urethaneresin is obtained by reaction of polyester polyol with isocyanatemonomer or prepolymer and by reaction of a resultant product withacrylate or methacrylate monomer having hydroxyl groups. As thephotoinitiator may be used with benzophenones, acetophenones,anthraquinone derivatives, singly or in combination. For improvingformation of coating, thermoplastic acrylic resin may appropriately beselected and can be blended with ultraviolet curable resin.

Methods of manufacturing the hard-coating layer 106 includes coatingselected from the group consisting of gravure coating, roll coating, andcomma coating; or a printing process selected from the group consistingof gravure and screen printing.

Referring to FIG. 8, another embodiment of a plastic article 10 amanufactured by the above-mentioned method includes an attached film 100a and a base 200 made by injecting mold. The attached film 100 aincludes an attaching layer 102 a, a base layer 104 a, a hard-coatinglayer 106 a, and a pattern layer 108 a sandwiched between the attachinglayer 102 a and the base layer 104 a.

The pattern layer 108 a may be provided by printing ink on the baselayer 104 a. A metal decorative layer can be provided as the patternlayer 108 a. The metal decorative layer may be aluminum, chromium,copper, nickel, indium, or tin, alone or combined, on the base layer 104a via either a vacuum evaporation or electroplating method.

It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will beunderstood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent thatvarious changes may be made thereto without departing from the spiritand scope of the description or sacrificing all of its materialadvantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being exemplaryembodiments.

1. A method for forming a plastic article using a male mold and a femalemold, the method comprising: providing an uninterrupted film with ahard-coating layer; transporting the uninterrupted film between thefemale and male molds, with a predetermined area of the film attached toan inner surface of a cavity of the female mold; closing the male andfemale molds to a first position where a first parting surface of themale mold does not contact a second parting surface of the female mold;injecting molten resin into the cavity to form a base of the plasticarticle; further closing the male and female mold to a second positionwhere the first parting surface of the male mold contacts the secondparting surface of the female mold, and cutting the predetermined areaof the film from the uninterrupted film; stopping injecting; cooling;and opening the female and male molds to retrieve the plastic article.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the male and female molds close to thesecond position when about 90%-99.5% of the molten resin is injectedinto the cavity.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the film furthercomprises a base layer attached to the hard-coating layer, and anattaching layer attached between the base of the plastic article and thebase layer.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the film further comprisesa pattern layer having patterns and/or characters printed on the baselayer and sandwiched between the base layer and the attaching layer. 5.A method for forming a plastic article using a male mold and a femalemold, the method comprising: providing an uninterrupted film with ahard-coating layer; transporting the uninterrupted film between thefemale and male molds, with a predetermined area of the film attached toan inner surface of a cavity of the female mold; closing the male andfemale molds; injecting molten resin to the cavity to form a base of theplastic article; cutting the predetermined area of the film from theuninterrupted film; stopping injecting; cooling; and opening the femaleand male molds to retrieve the plastic article.
 6. The method of claim5, wherein the predetermined area of the film is cut from theuninterrupted film after about 90%-99.5% of the molten resin is injectedinto the cavity.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the film furthercomprises a base layer attached to the hard-coating layer, and anattaching layer attached between the base of the plastic article and thebase layer.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the film further comprisesa pattern layer having patterns and/or characters printed on the baselayer and sandwiched between the base layer and the attaching layer. 9.A plastic article, comprising: a base formed by injecting molted resininto a cavity of a female mold; an attaching layer attached to the base;a base layer attached to the attaching layer opposite to the base; and ahard-coating layer attached to the base layer opposite to the attachinglayer, wherein the thickness of the hard-coating layer ranges from0.0005 millimeters to about 0.035 millimeters.
 10. The plastic articleof claim 9, wherein the attaching layer is made from a resin materialselected from the groups consisting of acrylic, nitrification fiber,polyamine formate, chlorination rubber, vinyl chloride-co-vinyl-aceticester copolymer, polyamide, polyester, epoxy, polycarbonate, olefin, andacrylonitrile-butylene-styrene monomer resin.
 11. The plastic article ofclaim 9, wherein the base layer generally comprises at least one ofpolycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, acrylic, orientedpolypropylene, or polyvinyl chloride.
 12. The plastic article of claim9, wherein the hard-coating layer is made of thermosetting resin, orcurable resin by ionizing radiation.
 13. The plastic article of claim12, wherein the hard-coating layer is made of curable resin byultraviolet ray of the ionizing radiation, the ultraviolet curable resincomprises ultraviolet curable acrylic urethane resin, ultravioletcurable polyester acrylate resin, and ultraviolet curable epoxy acrylateresin, ultraviolet curable resin is used with a photoinitiator.
 14. Theplastic article of claim 13, wherein the photoinitiator is made ofbenzophenones, acetophenones, anthraquinone derivatives, singly or incombination.
 15. The plastic article of claim 9, wherein the attachedfilm further comprises a pattern layer sandwiched between the attachinglayer and the base layer, the pattern layer is provided by printing inkon the base layer.
 16. The plastic article of claim 9, wherein theattached film further comprises a pattern layer sandwiched between theattaching layer and the base layer, a metal decorative layer can beprovided as the pattern layer, the metal decorative layer is aluminum,chromium, copper, nickel, indium, or tin, alone or combined, on the baselayer.